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Unwanted Children...What is YOUR solution?

So we dont' want easy access to birth control and Plan B because it 'encourages' unsafe sex and many want to outlaw abortion. We have proven time and time again that you cannot legislate morality and sexual conduct to those who don't subscribe to your personal set of values. I anticipate a major baby boom soon.

What should happen to all of these extra unwanted children and how will we be addressing the social issues they bring:

Health Problems

Both Russo and David and the National Campaign state that often women who face an unwanted pregnancy do not get prenatal care, putting their baby at risk for a premature birth, low birth weight, or other neurological disorders.

Single Families

Women must often raise the unwanted child by themselves, working a low-paying job, and the child may be forced to live below the poverty line. The mother may take her stress out on the child and start the cycle of child abuse.

Cognitive Issues

Children born to unprepared mothers may suffer academically as well. Since they live in poor neighborhoods, and their mother is always working and not spending time interacting with them, children may learn the alphabet or their numbers significantly later.

Behavior

According to Russo and David, unwanted children may suffer from low self-esteem during their childhood, and later act out their frustrations by turning to criminal behavior.

I think that birth control and Plan B should be available without a co-pay as part of health insurance benefits and that contraception should be taught about and easy to get. Abstinence-based sex ed is an unmitigated disaster--we HAVE TO teach kids about how to protect themselves against pregnancy and STDs. To me, this seems to be one of the easiest ways to prevent abortion--by preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

I think that abortion should be safe, legal, and much more rare than it is. Personally, I do NOT believe that it should be allowed to be used as a form of retroactive birth control, but that's just me. I think abortion SHOULD be allowed in all cases of rape, incest, or in any situation where a physician determines that the life or health of the mother is at risk.

In terms of a solution to unwanted pregnancy, to me it seems pretty simple. My older sister and I are both adopted, and there are so many families out there who want to adopt children. I've honestly never understood the viewpoint that a woman who becomes pregnant is forced to raise a child she's not prepared to raise--adoption is an extremely viable option and not only does the baby get a chance at life, but a family that wants a child can have one to raise.

I think that birth control and Plan B should be available without a co-pay as part of health insurance benefits and that contraception should be taught about and easy to get. Abstinence-based sex ed is an unmitigated disaster--we HAVE TO teach kids about how to protect themselves against pregnancy and STDs. To me, this seems to be one of the easiest ways to prevent abortion--by preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

I think that abortion should be safe, legal, and much more rare than it is. Personally, I do NOT believe that it should be allowed to be used as a form of retroactive birth control, but that's just me. I think abortion SHOULD be allowed in all cases of rape, incest, or in any situation where a physician determines that the life or health of the mother is at risk.

In terms of a solution to unwanted pregnancy, to me it seems pretty simple. My older sister and I are both adopted, and there are so many families out there who want to adopt children. I've honestly never understood the viewpoint that a woman who becomes pregnant is forced to raise a child she's not prepared to raise--adoption is an extremely viable option and not only does the baby get a chance at life, but a family that wants a child can have one to raise.

I'm adopted as well, but the problem is that if the child isn't a white infant without special needs, the demand is very low. The foster care system is so overrun with special needs kids and those who are not white (sadly) that they can not only be adopted for free, you get a stipend in most states until they're 18. Yet they still sit in foster care...

And I wholeheartedly agree with you on most of the rest of this. Do you think an abortion should be 'approved' by someone else, making sure it falls under the guise of "rape or incest" before the woman is allowed to terminate? Does she have to present her case before a panel of other people to be judged, or what?

In terms of rape, I don't know how that would be enforced. It's a sticking point--would you require witnesses? A medical exam? Would you have to have filed a police report at the time of the rape? I just don't really know, unfortunately.

I know, it's terrible that kids with special needs and kids of color have such a hard time being adopted. I don't have any real answers for that, either. :(

Quoting Woodbabe:

Quoting jhslove:

I think that birth control and Plan B should be available without a co-pay as part of health insurance benefits and that contraception should be taught about and easy to get. Abstinence-based sex ed is an unmitigated disaster--we HAVE TO teach kids about how to protect themselves against pregnancy and STDs. To me, this seems to be one of the easiest ways to prevent abortion--by preventing unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

I think that abortion should be safe, legal, and much more rare than it is. Personally, I do NOT believe that it should be allowed to be used as a form of retroactive birth control, but that's just me. I think abortion SHOULD be allowed in all cases of rape, incest, or in any situation where a physician determines that the life or health of the mother is at risk.

In terms of a solution to unwanted pregnancy, to me it seems pretty simple. My older sister and I are both adopted, and there are so many families out there who want to adopt children. I've honestly never understood the viewpoint that a woman who becomes pregnant is forced to raise a child she's not prepared to raise--adoption is an extremely viable option and not only does the baby get a chance at life, but a family that wants a child can have one to raise.

I'm adopted as well, but the problem is that if the child isn't a white infant without special needs, the demand is very low. The foster care system is so overrun with special needs kids and those who are not white (sadly) that they can not only be adopted for free, you get a stipend in most states until they're 18. Yet they still sit in foster care...

And I wholeheartedly agree with you on most of the rest of this. Do you think an abortion should be 'approved' by someone else, making sure it falls under the guise of "rape or incest" before the woman is allowed to terminate? Does she have to present her case before a panel of other people to be judged, or what?

I support a comprehensive sex education program for all our children that grows with them as age appropriate. That said, research shows there is no better way to reduce unwanted pregnancies than to generally educate women and girls through high school and college.

This education should be combined with access to birth control for everyone. People are sexual beings. Removing their birth control will not stop them from having sex. Having access to birth control will not "promote" those who do not wish to have sex to do so.

Abortion should be safe and legal. Doing the things mentioned above will reduce the need for abortion, but there will always be a need for save and legal abortion.

There are thousands of children who need homes right now. If we would use the resources on living children who need families instead of the unborn, we would have no need for state group homes and foster care.

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